A King’s student has told Roar that his plans to start a Donald Trump Society on campus, have been placed on hold until next year, as he felt the society was ‘premature.’
The future society’s about page declares that the society aims to ‘encourage friendships, debate and discussion, and also provide a forum for Trump Supporters to argue their cause and defend their position on campus.’. The society president, who wishes to remain anonymous, added that the group was about ‘letting people be friends’.
The website revealed that the society itself does not identify with the ‘alt-right’, a catch-all term for those who align themselves in the extreme political right whilst rejecting political correctness and other liberal ideas.
The page shows, however, that most of the society members identify as ‘politically redpilled’. A ‘redpilled person’ is defined as one who ‘rejects the current Leftist and Politically Correct identity politics that has taken over our government and university campuses’, according to the society website. Otherwise, the term has been associated with conspiracy theorists and so-called anti-progressive movements, prominently on the internet.
The society website states that to apply for society status, KCLSU now requires 50 students to show interest. The society president has confirmed the group ‘has the numbers’ however, he is reluctant to begin the society as he does not want to ‘rush things in’.
However, kclsu.org shows that the group ‘must have the potential to attract 35 members’. Commenting on this discrepancy, Beheshta Taher, a KCLSU student staff member at the Strand Campus, confirmed with Roar that the required number of students is still 35 as shown on kclsu.org.
The society’s future president was pessimistic about the society’s future, and said he doubted ‘KCLSU will let us do it’, and mentioned that KCLSU would find an excuse to shut down the society with ‘word magic’.
However, he was quick to note: ‘We will eventually be a thing’.
